The Balkans And The Middle East, The Eastern Front By: Khush, Jay, Akshan and Baraka Continue TABLE OF CONTENTS -01- -02- -03- -04- The Balkan Campaign The Middle East Introduction The Balkan Wars -05The Eastern Front -01Introduction The Balkans The Balkans, also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the whole of Bulgaria. -02- The Balkan Wars Introduction After the Young Turk Revolution, the Turkish government remained weak and inefficient. In 1911 Italy attacked Tripoli. In 1912, by the Treaty of Lausanne, Italy received Tripoli from Turkey. The First Balkan War 1912 Exploiting the chaotic political situation following the Turkish defeat in 1912, the Balkan states -- Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Montenegro-formed the Balkan League and declared war on Turkey in October 1912. They aimed to partition the Turkish Empire. From October 1912 to May 1913, the League won series of battles and Turkey could only retain the areas around Constantinople. The powers watched the victory of the League with great anxiety. Austria wanted to stop Serbia from becoming too powerful and was determined not to allow Serbia to get a seaport on the Adriatic. The powers intervened and imposed their own settlement, the Treaty of London. The most important provision of the Treaty was that, on Austria's insistence, a new state, Albania, was created to prevent Serbia from getting a coastline on the Adriatic. To compensate for this, Serbia was given a large part of Macedonia. The Second Balkan War 1913 Bulgaria had long regarded Macedonia as her possession. Her quarrels with Serbia soon developed into a war. In the second Balkan War, Bulgaria alone fought against Serbia, Montenegro, Rumania, Greece and Turkey. The war was soon over. Bulgaria was soundly defeated. The territorial settlement made after the First Balkan War was largely preserved except that Turkey and Rumania gained some valuable territory. The Consequences of the Balkan Wars The consequences of the Balkan Wars directly led to the outbreak of the First World War in the following ways; 1. Serbia was twice victorious in the Balkan wars and was larger than ever--her area doubled as she got a large part of Macedonia. The desire to make herself larger by including all fellow nationals in a united Slav state was intensified. This brought her more sharply into collision with Austria which ruled eight million Serbs and Croats and which prevented Serbia from getting a coastline. 2. Austria found that the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina grew increasingly troublesome. She was determined to attack Serbia before it was too late. The Consequences of the Balkan Wars Continued… 3. The Kaiser knew that Austria was her only dependable ally in Europe. He assured the Austrian Foreign Minister that ‘You can be certain I stand behind you and am ready to draw the sword whenever your action makes it necessary.’ 4. The Russian Czar felt that Russia had suffered a diplomatic defeat because she could not obtain Albania for Serbia due to Austrian insistence. In order to recover her lost prestige in the Balkans, the Czar declared in February 1914, "For Serbia, we shall do everything." -03- The Balkan Campaign What Was The Balkan Campaign? The Allied force at Salonika in Greece did not fare much better than that at Gallipoli. The aim was to land at Salonika, help Serbia to defeat Austria and Bulgaria and then march through what was described as the 'soft underbelly of Europe' to create a new front against Germany. The whole scheme was beset by problems. Greece was neutral and wanted to stay out of the war. It was very lukewarm about the campaign. Russia was not particularly happy either about the Allies working with Greece and Russia were bitter rivals in the Balkans. The Allied landing took place in October 1915 with a mixed force of British, French, Serb, Italian and Russian troops. They were immediately bogged down by Bulgarian resistance. Here again, as on the Western Front, a stalemate developed. What Was The Balkan Campaign? Continued… The main hazard facing the troops was not enemy action but disease -particularly malaria and dysentery. At any one time so many troops were ill that attempts to plan attacks were thwarted. Leadership was poor. The commander of the French troops, General Maurice Sarrail, had been dismissed for incompetence on the Western Front, but had then been transferred to run the Balkan Campaign was not until September 1918, under Sarrail's command, that the stalemate was broken. In the end, the Bulgarians were defeated in just two weeks. The whole campaign achieved little, apart from tying up the best part of one million British and French troops for much of the war. -04- The Middle East Turkey’s Journey When Turkey entered the war it threatened Britain's oil supplies in Persia (now Iran) and its territory in Egypt Turkish soldiers fought well and were ably led and supported by German officers and technical experts. They had such success in Mesopotamia that the Allies had to send 600,000 troops there They sent a further half a million to Palestine. Between 1916 and 1918 British, Australian, New Zealand and Indian troops gradually drove the Turks back through Palestine towards Turkey itself. The Turks, as well as facing superior forces, were harassed by guerrilla warfare from the many Arab tribes who wanted independence from Turkish rule. The Arabs were expert hit-and-run raiders and many followed the leadership of the Englishman TE Lawrence, the legendary Lawrence of Arabia. Under the leadership of General Allenby, the British and Empire forces finally defeated the Turks at Megiddo in September 1918. As the Allies continued to advance, the Turks surrendered on 3 November. -05- The Eastern Front 1914: Crushing Victory For The Germans At the start of the war, Russia surprised everyone. It quickly mobilized two huge armies and invaded East Prussia in August 1914. The Germans had to take an extra 100,000 troops away from the Western Front to fight them. This helped to ruin the Schlieffen Plan (see page 9).The Russian armies enjoyed some early successes but at the Battle of Tannenberg they suffered a shattering defeat by German forces. The Russian soldiers were badly led, poorly equipped and underfed. Most of them walked to the front. They were up against well-trained, well-equipped soldiers transported to the battle areas by rail. 1915: Mixed Fortunes Against The Austrians The Russians were more successful against the Austrian forces. In 1915 they invaded the Austrian province of Galicia. Although the Russians were defeated at Gorlice in May 1915, it took four more months for the Austrians to drive them out of Galicia altogether, and to do so the Austrians needed substantial reinforcements from the Germans. However, this defeat put a terrible strain on Russia -- there were 2 million dead or wounded in 1915 alone. 1916: Success And Failure For Brusilov The Russians gained some respite in the winter of 1915 and early 1916 when the focus of the German and Austrian war effort shifted to Italy, Turkey and the Balkans. In the summer of 1916, General Brusilov led a stunning offensive against the Austrians. Three Russian armies broke through the Austrian lines and captured the city of Lutsk on 8 June. But the Russians wasted the opportunity that the Brusilov Offensive gave them. Instead of attacking other parts of the Austrian lines, Brusilov's superiors decided to send extra troops to Brusilov to help him advance! By August, the Russian advance was running out of steam. Another 500,000 Russians were dead or wounded, adding to the half million dead or wounded already in 1916. Such losses intensified Russia's domestic problems. 1917: Revolution At Home Takes Russia Out Of The War The war effort put a terrible strain on Russia. Keeping the soldiers supplied meant that civilians were hungry. The Brusilov Offensive intensified the effects of war in Russia. Finally, in March 1917, Russia collapsed into revolution. The Tsar was overthrown and a new Provisional Government ruled Russia (see pages 111-13). The Provisional Government promised to carry on the war, but found that Russia did not have the resources or the will. In November 1917 the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, took power and pulled out of the war.. Although the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was not signed until March 1918, Russian troops stopped fighting at the end of 1917.
